Overline: IASS Symposium

Headline: Towards Planetary Health

What is planetary health? Why should leaders care about it? How do we transform a global idea into a local reality?

In  the  evening of November 6, 2019, the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) will convene a high-level panel to celebrate the inaugural Klaus Töpfer Sustainability Fellowship. The  event  also  commemorates  the  legacy  of  IASS  Founding  Director  Klaus  Töpfer,  who embodies  the  unique  combination  of  science,  politics  and  the  non-profit  sector  required  to realise the vision of the IASS. With its Klaus Töpfer Sustainability Fellowship, the IASS wants to honour  and  support  individuals  who  are  committed  to  sustainable  development  and  build bridges between science, politics and society.

The first Klaus Töpfer Sustainability Fellowship has been recently awarded to Dr. Nicole de Paula, a Brazilian political scientist working across disciplines to promote a greater integration of the environment-health nexus.

It is hard to imagine how truly healthy people can live on a sick planet. To address the growing threat that environmental degradation posesto public health, the event is a unique opportunity to exchange about the innovative and growing field of Planetary Health, meaning "the health of human  civilization  and  the  state  of  the  natural  systems  on  which  it  depends."  This  definition emerged  after  the  2015 publication “Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health,” urging for more integrative health policies by taking into account the impact of humans into natural ecosystems. The  event  on  November  6  focuses  on  the  challenges  for  human  health  in  a  changing environment, affected by unprecedented degradation of nature, includingthe emergingclimate crisis. It explores promising solutions for scaling up action for a healthier future,both for people and for the planet.

Recalling the potential of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development UN 17 Sustainable Development  Goals,  the  event  will  showcase  environmental  trends  that  are  putting  human health  at  risk,  explaining  why  the  holistic  approach  of  Planetary  Health  is  a  promising  avenue for driving action towards a cleaner and healthier future in times of a climate crisis. Discussions will  build  on  the  experience  of  high-level  leaders  to  discuss  how  planetary  health  can  be promoted  in  times  of  adverse  political  contexts  marked  by  the  rise  of  populist  and  nationalist feelings, notably in times when international cooperation is most needed.

Venue: Auditorium Friedrichstraße, Friedrichstr. 180, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Please register here by October 28.

You can find the agenda of the event here.